Flora of the Hawaiian Islands
Monocotyledon Literature for Setaria palmifolia
Wagner et al., 1990, 1999; Lorence & Wagner, 2019.
   Poaceae -- The Grass Family Bibliography
      Setaria palmifolia

Common name(s): bristlegrass, foxtail, palmgrass
General Information
DistributionNative to tropical Asia.In the Hawaiian Islands, naturalized on Kaua`i, O`ahu, Moloka`i, Lana`i, Maui, Hawai`i.
















Habit
Perennial; culms erect, 10–20 dm tall, appressed-hispid proximally and at nodes.
Leaves
Leaves with sheath papillose-hispid; ligule membranous, margin ciliate, apex rounded to truncate; blade narrowly elliptic, up to 50 cm long, up to 90 mm wide, strongly nerved, plicate, adaxial surface scabrous, abaxial surface pubescent, apex acuminate, base narrowed.
Flowers
Panicles open, up to 60 cm long, axis scabrous, nodes puberulent, primary branches numerous, ascending to spreading, up to 20 cm long, slender, scabrous, the bristles subtending the spikelet solitary, ca. 10 mm long; spikelets green, in racemose clusters on short, secondary or tertiary branchlets, lanceolate, ca. 4 mm long, glabrous, pedicels scabrous, 1–4 mm long; first glume ovate, 0.8–1.5 mm long, 3-nerved, apex obtuse; second glume 2–2.5 mm long, 7-nerved; first lemma with a point extending slightly beyond the caryopsis, 5-nerved; first palea narrow, hyaline, ca. 2/3 as long as first lemma; second lemma lanceolate, with a short, somewhat incurved point, obscurely transversely rugose; second palea similar to second lemma.
Fruit
Caryopsis pale brown, ovoid, compressed, ca. 2 mm long.
Chromosomes
2n = 36, 54
Contributor
Nancy Khan